Maddie's Fund

Alternatives to Intake

April 2015 by Wiley Stem, III

Audience:
Executive Leadership, Shelter/Rescue Staff & Volunteers

Video Length:

What if your city wanted to stop euthanizing community cats in the shelter, and decided to try something bold? And what if all the animal control officers, rescue groups and community members came together to make it work?

Join Maddie's Fund® and Wiley Stem III, Assistant City Manager of Waco, TX, as he shares his community’s inspiring story of collaboration and lifesaving in Alternatives to Intake: When the Shelter Isn’t the Answer.

This webcast is the first in a five-part series on the key initiatives of the Million Cat Challenge. "Alternatives to intake” is about many things – programs that provide pet food or veterinary care to low income families, support for community members who bring litters of kittens to the shelter and helping solve housing problems. And it’s also about what happened in Waco, when a dedicated group of civil servants and animal advocates said "no more” to the deaths of community cats in their shelter.

In this webcast, you’ll learn how they did it and how your community can do it, too.

Alternatives to Intake: When the Shelter Isn’t the Answer includes valuable information for anyone who wants to save animals' lives, from individual advocates to lawmakers as well as shelter and rescue group staff, volunteers and board members.

This webcast is part of an ongoing series of educational programs from Maddie's Institute, a program of Maddie's Fund®, the nation's leading funder of shelter medicine education. Maddie's Institute brings cutting edge shelter medicine information from universities and animal welfare leaders to shelter veterinarians, managers and staff as well as private practice veterinarians, rescue groups and community members to increase the lifesaving of homeless dogs and cats community-wide.

Wiley Stem, III

Wiley Stem, III has been with the City of Waco for 37 years. His previous positions with the City of Waco include Management Analyst, Assistant Director of Public Works, Water/Wastewater Supervisor, and Director of Water Distribution and Wastewater Divisions. In 1999, he assumed his current position as Assistant City Manager, which includes a leadership role in oversight of the municipal animal control agency.

Stem is an active member of the International City Management Association (ICMA), the Texas City Management Association (TCMA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), and Water Environment Federation. He also serves on the United Way Board and the Brazos G Regional Water Planning Group.

He spends his free time at his home in the country with his wife Tonette. He also enjoys activities with family, farming, cooking, Baylor sports and metal work.